


At least he's happy

by Alexei2020



Series: Oneshot collection [15]
Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Engagement, Getting Together, Heartbreak, M/M, Pining, Time Skips, Unrequited Love, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:26:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28068510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexei2020/pseuds/Alexei2020
Summary: “Hey, can I take you out to coffee? Catch up?”There’s another snort, and some shuffling, mumbling he doesn’t manage to turn into words, and then: “Sure, why not.”
Relationships: Harry Osborn/Peter Parker, Peter Parker/Tony Stark - one sided
Series: Oneshot collection [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877071
Kudos: 51





	At least he's happy

Peter isn’t purposely avoiding Tony. He’s not. It’s just that college is a lot more work than high school, and between signing up to a few too many classes, swinging around the city and actually studying, there’s not a lot of time left to accompany the billionaire on his weekly lab binges. 

(He may also be a tad sick of being treated as a damn kid. He went to space. He died. He grew up.)

So he tries to settle into this new milestone of his life, and blames it on sleep or reading whenever his roomate is about to murder him for ignoring his phone for too long. 

_ How’s college? _

_ Do you need anything? _

_ Up for lab time anytime soon? _

_ Miss you, kid. _

Tony has known Peter for years, though, so he knows damn well that Peter lives purely on caffeine and stubbornness most of the time. 

_ Sorry, I’m busy. _

* * *

Tony is trying really hard not to screw up his second chance at life. He really is. It’s a miracle he survived using the stones in the first place, and when you’re sure you’re going to die, and everything you didn’t get to do is flashing in front of your eyes, it kind of gives your choices a new perspective.

So he spends as much time with Morgan as possible, makes an enormous effort to love his wife like she deserves, and orders Friday to lock his phone whenever he’s been pestering his mentee to the point where he doesn’t even bother with emojis in his three worded reply.

_ Sorry, I’m busy. _

There’s something in his already patched together heart that shatters, but he doesn’t dare to dwell too much on it. 

He hears the phantom laugh of a beautiful teen whenever the glass door to his lab opens for him. He locks the sound away in a drawer and throws away the key.

He imagines a red and blue blur in the sunrise as he drinks his coffee in front of the floor to ceiling window, watching the streets below buzz into life with the rising sun. 

He falls asleep to a ghost of a voice, whispering in his head. _Mr. Stark, We made it. We won._ _I don’t want to go. Please._

_ Please, Mr. Stark.  _ Somewhere the whimpers and sobbing turns to lovely moans and murmurs in his mind as he clings to the soft skin and curves of his wife, thinking of lean muscle and deep, brown eyes.

Tony turns off the tracking and recording in the Spider-Man suit.

* * *

Peter meets Harry at the library, asking for a pen, which ends up in elaborate discussions about their shared classes and professors, which ends up with a coffee date. 

The date goes as well as it can go, with Peter flustered and pink cheeked, admiring the sharp features of Harry’s jaw as he talks, the way his blue eyes shine in the fluorescent light in the coffee shop. He’s one of the most beautiful men Peter has ever seen.

Harry walks Peter back to his dorm, kisses his cheek with soft, warm lips and asks to meet him again, soon. 

* * *

Tony realizes soon enough that holding on to Pepper is everything but fair. She deserves better than an old man wasting his second chance pining for a teenager. 

They don’t talk about how Peter just up and left Tony’s life. They don’t talk about how Tony scrambles for his phone with every  _ ding _ , whether it’s actually there or imagination. They don’t talk about how Tony stopped saying  _ I love you _ , because he feels bad for lying to her.

He does love her. Just not the right way. 

Tony isn’t naive enough to think she doesn’t know. Which is probably why she doesn’t make a fuzz when he brings up the topic of divorce. It’s probably also the reason why she squeezes his shoulder with a sad smile and says  _ I hope it’s worth it. _

* * *

Peter and Harry start officially dating after christmas. Sealing the deal with a kiss under the fireworks on Harry’s balcony in the Osborn Mansion, and a picture on Instagram, telling Harry’s hundred thousand followers that he’s been snatched off the ground by the awkward, nerdy dude in the library who broke his only pen.

It’s easy, being with Harry. They can sit back to back on the floor of Peter’s dorm, throwing questions and quips back and forth without problems. They can devour three pizzas over some crappy horror movie on netflix and laugh at the cringe worthy acting.

They prep each other for tests and get drunk off their minds after finals, and get ready for a summer filled with walks in the park and hiding from paparazzis.

* * *

Tony’s heart drops when he skims the news on his phone, and sees a picture of Peter, walking down the street, hand twined with Harry Osborn’s, head thrown back mid laugh, and Harry looking at him like he hung the moon just for him.

He looks happy. Relaxed. 

Tony begs his heart to pick itself up and stitch itself back together, because his hands are shaking so badly, he can hardly hold on to the air around him.

He shouldn’t be this heartbroken. There’s never been anything but mentorship, maybe the start of a friendship, between them. But he can’t think of one solid reason to justify Peter’s lighthearted smiles as he stares at the Osborn heir when he guiltily scrolls through his instagram.

Anyone born into that family is doomed to become an asshole, Tony is sure of it. Norman can’t possibly raise someone who turns out to be  _ good. _ Peter deserves so much better than that.  _ Someone like me _ , a treacherous part of his brain supplies. 

Not that Tony is in the top ten of the partner scale. Peter should have the whole world served to him on a silver platter. At least Tony is aware of that. 

He hopes Harry knows it too.

* * *

Harry’s smile is blinding, yet his eyes are nervous, when he takes Peter’s blindfold off of his eyes and spreads his arms in an empty apartment with a view of the whole of manhattan. It’s beautiful, Peter has no other words to describe it. 

Harry’s shiny, blue eyes and relieved face when he kisses him silly and accepts the keys is even more beautiful.

It’s an adjustment. They’ve spent a lot of time together in the two years they’ve been dating, but living together is another thing completely. 

Peter crawls through the window to find Harry on the couch waiting for him, tired and worried, and Harry covers the coffee table with business papers and coffee cups. 

Peter laughs from the shower as Harry spends too much time and hair gel on his hair in the morning, tongue sticking out in concentration and a frown between his brows that grows deeper and deeper with each passing minute.

Harry throws Peter’s excuse for a breakfast in the trash and runs out of the apartment, only to return with bagels, egg and bacon from the cafe across the street.

Peter wakes up tasting ash in his mouth and Harry’s arms wrap around him, holding him close through his shivers and tears. 

Harry gets backhanded by his father for not working quick enough, and Peter is there with insults dripping from his mouth like acid and a frozen bag of peas for Harry when they get home.

* * *

Tony tells Friday to ban him from everything about Peter on social media, and spends more time with Morgan. She’s growing up so fast he’s afraid to blink.

But they spend every other weekend chasing each other with modified nerf guns or sprawled out on the floor with 1000 puzzle pieces around them. 

They have movie marathons to catch up with everything Disney thinks the world wants to see, and dresses up to have sing along concerts on the couch with the remote as a microphone. 

Tony smiles and laughs and his face hurts a little from working the muscles so much when she’s there, but it’s the only time his face stretches without force, and he cherishes the moments when he has her undivided attention. 

She starts middle school and comes home one weekend to gush about some cute boy two rows in front of her in class.  _ He’s so cute, dad, you have no idea. His eyes are deep brown and so big and he’s so shy. But dad, he’s so smart, too. He knows all the answers. And dad, he’s smile is so pretty.  _

Tony doesn’t want her to think anyone is cute or have a pretty smile.

He dreams of his own set of deep, brown eyes and pretty smile, and wonders, in the darkness of his bedroom, if Peter ever thinks of him too.

* * *

Norman Osborn is out for Peter. Not that he knows that, when he flies around the city on a glider that defies the laws of physics, throwing pumpkin bombs as he chases Spider-Man between the skyscrapers of Manhattan.

Peter takes him down, gets him locked up at the Raft, and wonders what the hell he’s going to tell Harry. 

When he gets home, Harry is already standing by the window, ready to haul Peter into the bathroom and patch him back up. When Peter isn’t dying from blood loss and his brain is starting back up, he opens his mouth to tell Harry that his dad is a villain and just tried his best to kill him, but Harry cuts him off before anything but a quiet whimper leaves his mouth.  _ I know. It’s okay. I love you. _

* * *

Tony is watching the news when he sees Spider-Man thrown from a roof and hitting a car down on the streets. His heart is in his throat, he’s holding his breath and all he can hear is the blood pounding in his ears as he waits for Peter to get back up. 

He does. He rolls off the roof of the car, lands with a  _ thud  _ on the asphalt and groans as he gets up on wobbly legs before throwing another web and flinging out of the range of the camera. 

Friday disables the block to Peter’s number.

It rings once, twice, three times before someone picks up. It’s not Peter. It’s that pesky boyfriend Harry Osborn. 

Tony hangs up.

* * *

Peter buys a ring. He’s grinning from ear to ear as he strolls into the restaurant to celebrate their five year anniversary. 

He’s crying when Harry grabs his face and kisses him, whispering  _ yes, yes, yes _ as a mantra into his mouth. 

They don’t have to make a public statement on the matter. Everyone else in the restaurant with a cell phone gets there before them. It’s okay, they stroll down the streets of New York for hours afterwards, fingers intertwined and float above the city floor with each step in their aimless wander.

Peter is happy. He’s happy and in love and he’s gonna marry the most beautiful man to ever walk this earth.

* * *

Tony has lost count over how many times Peter has broken his heart over the last years. Still, he calls him again, crossing his fingers that he’ll get to hear  _ Peter’s  _ voice this time.

It sounds like an angel. The voice on the other line appears a little weary, hesitant, as if he’s not sure who’s calling.

“Hey, kid.” He tries for nonchalance. Fails miserably with his breathy greeting. His mind makes up a million different responses in the few seconds it takes for Peter to answer.  _ Mr. Stark! Hey, it’s been a while. I missed you.  _

He doesn’t get any of them. What he gets is a snort, and a short “m’not a kid” Which — yeah, Tony is well aware. “Can I help you with anything?” It doesn’t sound like the Peter Tony knows.  _ Knew _ . It’s bizarre, to get the monotone voice when he’s still so used to the enthusiastic, cheery teen he shared his lab with. 

“I just called to congratulate you. If you need anything, you know you can call, right?” He shouldn’t offer. He really shouldn’t do that to himself. But hearing Peter’s voice, after all those years, and have it be so wrong… He needs to have his Peter back. If only as friends. 

Whatever he can get.

“Hey, can I take you out to coffee? Catch up?”

There’s another snort, and some shuffling, mumbling he doesn’t manage to turn into words, and then: “Sure, why not.” 

There’s no energy in the answer. He almost sounds bored. But it’s a start. Tony can make up for lost time. He can become Peter’s friend again. 

* * *

Peter’s not sure he’s ready to meet Tony again after so long. Harry offers to come with him, but somehow, Peter’s senses tell him that that’s not really a good idea.

Tony looks tired, but not in the I-just-spent-three-days-in-the-lab kind of tired as much as the I’m-getting-old-and-don’t-know-how-to-deal-with-it kind. But his smile is genuine when he waves Peter over to the booth in the corner of the coffee shop, and his eyes light up when Peter waves back.

He doesn’t call Peter kid anymore. That’s a relief. He’s retired as Iron Man too, but Peter kind of guessed that already, with the lack of publicity from the hero. 

They talk about Morgan. Peter’s only met her a couple of times, but she seems like a wonderful girl when Tony talks about her, his face turning into something he’s never seen before, but it’s honest and pure and proud. It’s a good look on him. 

Tony doesn’t want to talk about Harry, and when Peter mentions he works as a biochemist for OsCorp, Tony offers him a job as SI instead, but it’s fine. 

They have to get to know each other again, and that’s fine too. Maybe they’ll get there eventually.

* * *

It’s a delight. Simple as that. Peter is smiling back at him, those deep, brown eyes giving him all the attention he managed to take for granted for so long. 

He can make this work. He can get Peter back. 

_ Maybe _ , some disturbed part of him adds,  _ you can make him see how much happier he can be _ . 

They agree to meet again, soon. And it all goes so well, until Peter starts freaking out over who gets to sit next to who in the wedding, what colors they should pick, and whether May should get free reign over the flowers or not. 

Tony offers to pay for a wedding planner. More for his own sanity than to be a good friend, really. Not that it matters, because apparently, both Peter and Harry want to do it all themselves.  _ It’s our day. It should be what we want it to be, not what someone else thinks will look best.  _

And Peter is stubborn, so Tony, with a resigned heart, trudges after Peter through a dozen stores to find the perfect suit. 

At least Peter looks happy. 

* * *

Peter is low key freaking out. He doesn’t have a best man. He realizes with a shuddering breath that he doesn’t really have any friends anymore. 

He’s never been a popular guy. He had one friend through high school, but college and life and what felt like a million miles at the time got in the way of maintaining any kind of friendship. 

The few people he hung out with in college is definitely not close enough to be trusted with best man duties. Whatever those are. 

If Harry hadn’t snatched Mary Jane right under his nose he would have begged her. 

The only person he has semi regular contact with nowadays that’s not Harry or May is Tony.

He shouldn’t.

Tony has made it pretty obvious that he doesn’t approve. He shouldn’t ask that of him. But then again, Tony has been very adamant that he’ll help in any way he can. 

Despite the hiccup regarding Harry, it’s like they’re back where they were before Peter cut him out of his life. Except they’re equals. And Peter has to admit, he never thought he’d see the day when Tony didn’t look at him as some annoying child.

Peter doesn’t ask Tony.

Tony offers. After getting a few beers in a rundown pub, Peter can’t seem to stop rambling about how he’s failing the social aspect of his life. 

Even with his head buzzing from alcohol he’s pretty sure Tony’s only doing it out of pity, but there’s no way he’ll marry Harry while he’s outnumbered. He’s never gonna hear the end of it.

* * *

Tony smiles as he straightens Peter’s bow tie. It’s not a fake smile, but it’s not a jumping-of-joy kind either. 

Peter is a mess. Sweaty hands and restless legs as he wanders back and forth in the tiny room they’re stuffed in. 

Tony watches in mild amusement as Peter paces back and forth, muttering to himself. Stopping only to glare at the ceiling with a long sigh and turning around to keep walking holes in the floor.

It’s a good sign. It shows how serious he is about it. Tony doesn’t want to take this from him. As much as he despises Osborn, Peter loves him, and as far as Tony can see, they’re really good for each other.

He gets a little teary eyed when they exchange vows, and when he sees the way Harry looks at Peter as they say their I do, he knows Peter is in good hands.

He’s happy. He’s loved. He smiles like he just won the entire universe. Tony doesn’t think he’d ever be able to give him that. 

But he’s happy for them. At least he can give him that.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! 
> 
> And come say hi on tumblr! @ kreket-popcorn-lover


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